Beef Stew

Beef Stew


1 1/2 pounds chuck pot roast
1 cup water
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can beef broth, divided
1 cup sliced (coined) carrots
2 medium  Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled & 1/4” diced
1 stalk celery,  sliced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 Bay leaf
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon tomato paste  or 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup



Step One:

Trim the fat from the chuck pot roast as best as possible. There will likely be an elastic silver colored skin on the parts of the meat. This is commonly called silver skin, it is part of the fascia of the muscle. Remove the silver skin with a sharp knife.  Once the roast is fully trimmed cut the roast into 1/2 cubes and reserve. After trimming the cubes will weight around 1 pound




Step Two:

Place the beef cubes in a slow cooker along with 1 cup of water and 1/2 can of beef broth on low for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile add the onion, carrots, potatoes, and celery to a sauce pan along with 1 cup of water and the remaining beef broth. Bring the vegetables to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15 -20 minutes with the lid ajar. The purpose of this step is to prevent vegetables that are not fully cooked, breaking down the structures in the vegetables requires higher temperatures, however those temperatures would result in tough beef, therefore this preparation blast heats the vegetables so that they are not fully cooked but will be tender. Add the vegetables to the slow cooker and stir in remaining ingredients. Cook on Low for 7 hours.

Quick Manhattan Style Clam Chowder

Ingredients

4 strips of thick cut turkey bacon, diced

1 drizzle of vegetable oil (optional)

½ cup onion, diced

½ cup green pepper, diced

1 ½ Yukon gold potatoes , ½ inch diced

2 5oz cans chopped claims.

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon thyme

Step 1:

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and still occasionally to ensure the bacon doesn’t stick or burn. Depending on how lean the bacon is, a drizzle of vegetable oil may be needed. Once the bacon is brown and crispy, add the onions and green peppers and cook until both are softened. Next add the potatoes and combined them well.      

Step Two:

Reduce the heat to medium, and add the undrained chopped clams to the potato mixture. Next add the undrained diced tomatoes. Stir in the remaining ingredients. 

Step Three:

Increase the heat to medium-high to bring the chowder to a rapid boil. While the soup is boiling foam will appear on the surface. The foam will result in cloudy chowder, and therefore it must be removed to clarify the chowder. Spoon or ladle as much foam as possible.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.  

Black Eye Peas with Turkey Bacon and Chilies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup dry Black Eye Peas

10 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons oil divided

5 slices of thick turkey bacon cut in to 1/4" pieces

1 1/2 cups diced onion

1/4 cup diced hot chili peppers

1 tablespoon pressed garlic

1 teaspoon black pepper

Step One:
Pour the black eye peas into a colander and rinse. Dried beans can contain stones, and other debris.  Transfer the beans to a large pot and fill it with 6 cups cold water. Add salt and bring the water to a boil for 3 minutes. Remove  from the heat and cover for 3 hours.









Step Two:
Remove the turkey bacon from package and cut  it into 1/4" pieces. The bacon here is the thicker cut kind of turkey bacon. If your grocery only carries the thin kind, then you can use that, but you'll need 8 slices.  Thick cut pork bacon can be used as well. Another posibility here would be to use smoked poultry or meat products. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to a 6-quart pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat and render the bacon. Remove it from the pan and reserve. Continue using the same pot for the next steps.












Step Three:
Reduce the temperature to medium. Add one teaspoon of oil. Add the onion to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until the onion is soft and golden. Add in the chili peppers and cook until they too are soft stirring occasionally.

Step Four:
Add the garlic and the reserved bacon to the onion and chili mixture. Stir frequently for about 1 minute until garlic is fragrant. Add the beans and 4 cups of water to the mixture and bring it to a boil.  Remove mixture from the heat. Pour the bean mixture into a slower cooker. Set the slow cooker to medium (or low depending on your model) and cook for 6 hours.

Chicken Stock

Chicken stock is the basic ingredient in many preparations, including broths, soups,  sauces, and stir-fries.  It is readily available at the supermarket in wide varieties, but it's also not that hard to make, and the ingredients are often things that normally are discarded.  The vegetable and chicken scraps can be collected over time frozen and then used to make your stock. This preparation uses mostly vegetable scraps, and left over chicken parts. Result was a clear flavorful stock that was then used in Hungry Girl's Egg-cellent Foo Young recipe.  

5 cups water (1 cup reserved)

8-16 oz chicken rib sections, back bone, or neck bones.

5 medium onion root ends

5 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces of the tops of celery including leaves.

5 1/2 inch end pieces of carrot 

1/2 tsp parsley

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon of Pepper

Step One: Making the Stock Base

In a 6 quart sauce pan, combine four cups of water and all ingredients and bring to a boil.   Boil uncovered for 5 minutes and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. 

Step Two: Reducing 

Transfer the stock to a to a slow cooker and add 1 cup of water.  Cook uncovered the whole time. Initially set the temperature to high for 30 minutes and then reduce the temperature to low for 7-8

hours.  Placing a metal or heat resistant colander or splatter shield  over the slow cooker can be helpful to avoid any potential splatters.

Step Three:  Straining

Remove large pieces of bone, meat and veggies.  Using cheesecloth or a single layer paper towel lined the strainer or colander and  strain the stock to another container. 

Tip:  Many paper towels are two ply, which will make straining go a lot slower. To get around

this separate two two plies apart and strain using only one of them.

The strained stock should be fragrant, rich in color,  and mostly clear.  

Cool the stock to room temperature and then refrigerate for 4 hours.

Step Four:  Removing Excess Fat

During refrigeration fat will form on the top of the stock.  Remove the fat layer with a spoon and discard.   Alternatively, prior to refrigerating, the stock could be allowed to settle and then a gravy separator can be employed.  Both methods work rather well, and can be even used together.